Sixty Years Ago Today...
Fighting
the Fox
Dateline:
Early 1942
North
African Theater of Operations
by Jennifer
King and Timothy Rollins
Reflections on World War II
A
Special Note to Our Readers: It seemed for the United States that when it
finally entered World War II in December of 1941, Murphy's Law was working overtime
against it. Not only was it having to fight a Pacific war against the Japanese,
they had to contend with the Germans and the Italians both in the European theater
as well in North Africa. America was fighting a three-front war, which consequently
made it necessary for the "Rosie-Riveters" to head to the factories
to work, as all able-bodied men were needed for duty either on the line or in
a combat support capacity.
As is often the case in any combat action, many of the key players seem to keep turning up time and again in different places throughout the many campaigns - not all of them having successful runs where they serve. In this case, British General Sir Archibald Wavell would later find himself reassigned to Indonesia where his skills would come in handy at Balikpapan on the Island of Borneo.
With Mussolini having annexed Libya some 30 years earlier, they had good field position to stake good field position in North Africa for both themselves as well as the Nazis, with whom they were in cohoots. The fact they outnumbered British troops in the area by a more than 3 to 1 margin did not help the British cause much either.
It was also at this point where a new figure would come into prominence during the war - Nazi Brigadier General Erwin Rommel - none other then the Desert Fox himself. A brilliant tactician in his own right, his actions and counteractions often left the Allies having to think their actions through very carefully, and in so doing, helped teach not only the Americans, but all the Allied troops into becoming better soldiers and tacticians. - Jennifer and Tim
The North African war was first started by Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, who envisioned himself at the head of a grand reprise of the Roman Empire. Italy, which had annexed Libya from Turkey in 1912, had 200,000 troops stationed there, in Tripoli. The British, stationed in Alexandria, Egypt, by contrast, had merely 63,000 troops and far less material.
Allied interest in North Africa was keen. The British were quite concerned with keeping open the Suez Canal, their lifeline to the Far East and India. Should the Axis be successful in dominating Syria, Iran and Iraq; they would control the oil which fueled the Royal Navy, immobilize Turkey, paralyze the critical Russian Lend-Lease program and threaten India. Therefore, it was vital to keep them from getting a stronghold in the region.
The
Italian troops, under the command of Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, had first attacked
Egypt on 13 September 1940. They established an outpost some sixty miles inside
Egypt that was to hold until December, when British General Sir Archibald Wavell
launched a counter-offensive that would drive the Italians back some 400 miles
to Beda Fomm.
On 7 February 1941, Wavell’s forces succeeded in cutting off the retreating Italian 10th Army, at Beda Fomm. The Italians, recognizing that they were caught between Wavell’s forces and the 6th Australian Division, surrendered. 130,000 Italian soldiers were now POWs, lessening Graziani’s advantage considerably.
Adolf
Hitler realized that he would have to come to the aid of the beleaguered Italians.
Hitler sent, as his commander, a man who had fought in the First War as a Lieutenant
with the 124th Wurttemburg Infantry Regiment. That highly decorated combat leader,
who had commanded one of the first Panzer divisions to reach the Channel in
the new war, was Erwin Rommel.
Rommel, (1891-1944) had taught in the War College Institute, where he first met up with later prominent Nazis. By 1939, he was a Brigadier General, and in 1940 he was in command of the 7th Panzer Division, which swept through France with a rapidity that would impress others with Rommel’s skill.
On 12 February 1941, Rommel arrived in Tripoli and began planning his offensive. Rommel, and his Afrika Korps, consisted initially of the 5th Light and 15th Panzer Divisions. Unfortunately, at this same time, the Allied troops in Egypt were being thinned in order to try and stem the German tide in Athens.
Beginning on 24 March 1941, the British, were routed from Beda Fomm. By 3 April, Rommel had captured Benghazi and by 11 April, he had chased the Allied forces back to their original lines in Egypt. The 9th Australian Division was holed up in Tobruk, surrounded on all sides by German and Italian forces.
The war in North Africa then settled into a war of attrition. The vast expanses of the desert, and the complete lack of roads beyond the coastlines, forced the competing armies to make feints, at which point their supply lines would be stretched untenably. The other side then would make a successful foray, until their supply lines were likewise hampered.
In April, General Wavell, resupplied by convoy, attempted to unseat Rommel. His tanks, thrown up against the much superior German 88mm tank guns, fared poorly. Wavell was then dispatched to India, replaced on 21 June 1941, by General Sir Claude Auchinleck.
The British held Island of Malta played a critical part in the eventual success of the North African campaign, providing a sea base for launching attacks or re-supplying the Allied forces. The breaking of the German Enigma Code also gave the Allies an advantage in intercepting convoys or transport planes bound for Rommel. In the attempt to knock the British out of Malta, the Luftwaffe pounded the island, conducting 169 bombing raids in December of 1941 and 262 raids in January of 1942.
General Auchinleck, committed to driving Rommel and the Italian forces out of Libya, launched Operation Crusader on 18 November 1941. The British were initially successful, liberating the Australian garrison at Tobruk on 10 December. However, now it was the British lines that were stretched thin, and when Rommel counterattacked on 21 January 1942, he successfully pushed the British back to Gazala-Bir Hacheim by 28 January.
During Crusader, the British had lost 18,000 men killed and wounded; the German-Italians had 38,000 killed or wounded. The British had lost 440 tanks to the German’s 340, and aircraft losses were about equal at 300. During the spring months, the lines would be resupplied, getting ready for the next big battle, which would occur in May.
And, in November, green American troops under Generals Eisenhower and Patton would meet the fearsome Germans for the first time in the war. ***
© 2002 Jennifer King and Timothy Rollins
COPYRIGHT © 2002 BY THE AMERICAN PARTISAN. All writers retain rights to their work.
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